We went to Chichen Itza on April 4th, 2008, staying overnight at the Villas Arqueologicas because we didn't know about the cordoning off of the ruins and thought we'd have a lot to explore.

Chichen Itza has changed quite a bit since I first saw it 15 years ago. At that time the public could enter all of the buildings. I remember it as a vast, exciting place--now, almost everything is cordoned off with yellow tape making even a close up inspection of the ruins difficult.

Getting There From Merida: We took a first class bus, arriving at 8AM right at the entrance to the ruins. It cost about $30 for two roundtrips tickets and took about 1Hr and 45 mins. We should have rented a car from Merida since we would have left at noon.

Arrival: At 8AM it was getting kind of warm. Our tickets were $8 each. There were tour guides at the entrance, the published price was $60 but he later lowered it to $50 for a one hour tour.
He appeared to really know his stuff and spoke fluent English but our tour only included the initial part of the ruins.

The Ruins: Almost all the ruins are now hands-off with the exception of the back part of the Temple of the Warriors. This is so sad since you can't get a good look at the carvings, and can only wonder at what is at the top of the stairs or what a building may look like. We were done in four hours and spent the rest of the day thinking of stuff to keep ourselves occupied.

Our guide said a few years ago there was a fatal accident where an adult and four children fell to their deaths down the El Castillo Pyramid. But why they cordoned off all the ruins, even the ones that aren't steep is still a puzzle to me. You can't touch 95% of the buildings and getting good photos is hard because of all the yellow tape.

The facilities: The main entrance has an outdoor restaurant with mediocre food and US prices. The air-conditioned restaurant was closed. The book store had good resources on the ruins but a limited selection of English books. The air-conditioned museum was closed. The day was hot, (only 91 degrees with 55% humidity but intense sunlight) and we were looking for a little respite from the heat. Most of the tourists there were sweaty and sunburned, like a very hot day at Disneyland. The tour busses started to come in about 9AM, at times lines as long as 50 feet at the turnstiles to get into the ruins.

Recommendation: Buy a photo book of Chichen Itza instead and go to Uxmal where you can still enter the ruins themselves. The location is more verdant and jungle-like, cooler because it's in the Puuc (hilly) region, and less touristy.
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We visited the Chichen Itza ruins the first week of April 2008. We did this through a Carnival Cruise line excursion. Like other reviewers mention, plan for it to be very hot--sunscreen, large hat or an umbrella is definitely a must!

Although the time was brief (about 2 hours at the ruins), the opportunity to experience Chichen Itza was awesome. The Mayan culture was sophisticated. The ruins are in excellent condition. Our family of 5 wandered as much as we could in the short time we had. It was fascinating to see the ancient ruins. The fact that there are more ruins to be excavated is exciting. The kids would have loved to climb the pyramid, but it is now closed to visitors climbing the structure. However, we were able to climb on other structures within Chichen Itza.

For cruisers docking in Progresso, you have a 2 1/2 hour bus ride each way to the ruins. The buses are comfortable, air conditioned tour vehicles with a bathroom. After visiting the ruins, a tasty lunch was waiting on each bus seat. Each bus had a personal tour guide (Diego, our guide, did his best with the English language, but we missed several things he said)--he was also our guide for about 45 mins. at the ruins, then he turned us loose to discover the ruins. This tour allowed us to scratch the surface only--I would have enjoyed more time looking around even though it was a very hot 98 degrees when we were there. Do not hesitate to choose this tour as your shore excursion when in Progresso. The cost of $71 each was well worth it. We also enjoyed the Mexican countryside along the way. The city of Progresso itself did not seem to have much to offer.

Other reviewers wrote of being hounded by vendors at Chichen Itza. Yes, they are definately there--but we did not find them to be offensive in any way. This is a poor country, and these vendors are doing what they can to make their lives better. Do be careful of the "one dollar" as that is not exactly what the vendor means. It could be $7 - $10 US that they are expecting. One vendor offered to trade wares for my son's hat, another offered to trade for his sunglasses! He left with both, but has enjoyed relating the story.

If you are visiting and not part of a shore excursion, I recommend arriving early (before the heat of the day). I could easily have spent 3 - 5 hours at the site. Much to see.

We just got back from our wonderful vacation on March 4th 2008. We had a rental car and found that the site was easy to get to. If you drive the Cancun route as opposed to driving from Tulum you have to pay 2 toll booth charges. I think the first one was 220 ($22 american) pesos and the one just before the ruins was 50($5 american) pesos. You also have to pay them on the way back. If you take the Tulum route you only have to pay the 50 pesos going in and coming out.
Take lots of pesos with you because there are no bank machines along the route and they do not take credit cards at Chichen Itza. They do have a bank machine inside, but I wouldn't risk waiting until you get there to get money.
We debated getting a tour guide before we arrived, but when we got there it was crazy busy so we decided to hire one of the guys that approached us after the tickets we purchased. The tour guides all wear different shirts (most are white and have a tour guide badge, some are blue) and they make you pay upfront and then they have to go to a desk to register and they tell you that they will meet you on the inside (after the turnstyle where they rip your ticket). I was a little nervous that we were about to be ripped off, but all the tour guides must register each tour they give, so don't freak out like I did.He cost $45 American for the first hour and a half and then we had the option of giving him $20 more if we wanted to continue the tour for another hour or so. We were having a fabulous time and so were our 2 children who are 10 and 7 so we decided to finish the tour. He was very knowledgeable and we were so glad we did it. There are a lot of vendors and most are not very pushy. All you need to say is No, gracias and they are very respectful. I did encounter one very persistant little girl who insisted that I buy a hanky from her, but after saying no about 10 times I just had to walk away and she continued her high pressure sales tactic with someone else. Policemen monitor the parking lot so no one will break into your car while you are inside. I felt very safe while we were there. One thing you should watch out for is using the bathroom. I recommend taking a little toilet paper with you in your bag if you can and a whole lot of anti-bacterial lotion.
The Mayans were a remarkable people. I highly recommend going to see this amazing place.

We went to Chichen Itza on a daytrip from our hotel, Sandos Caracol. Do not book through your travel agent in resort as to our dismay we found that it was much cheaper to book in town.
Although we probobly paid over the odds my boyfriend and I had a great day.
We took the coach option, which was a long journey from where we were and would not have been suitable for children. When we got on the coach we found we had plenty of leg room and it was comfy. We were given a drink and a cake as we set off once we had picked up the other tourists from other hotels.
Once arriving at Chichen Itza our guide collected our passes and wristbands and we started the tour. We started by going through the trees to hear the history of a few smaller mayan ruins which was incredibly interesting. As we went further round the ruins got bigger and bigger until we came to the giant pyramid.
It was so stunning and hard to believe how old it was and the amazing 'coincidences' with today's Roman calendar.
The disappointment of the day was that we could no longer climb the steps as it was cordoned off (an American had fallen and died the year before) It was made worse by the fact that we would not get to see the pyramid inside, which we had wanted to experience. The guide did a clapping experiment, he stood in a particular spot and clapped his hands. The sound is suppoed to echo through the entrance at the top and it creates a sound like a cultural bird - it was simply amazing.
Make sure you take plenty of sun screen and a hat as there is no shade at all once you get to the big pyramid and the heat can be really intense.
On the journey back we stopped at a local restaurant for dinner (included in the price) and we had traditional dancers perform while we ate which was nice.
It is a very enjoyable day and I recommend it to those interested in the culture of Mexico.